The  Invisible  World 
About  Us 


A  LECTURE  ON  THE  UNSEEN  REGIONS 

BEYOND  THE  GRASP  OF  THE  PHYSICAL 

SENSES  AND  THE  LIFE  WE  LIVE 

AFTER  BODILY  DEATH 


By  L.  W.   ROGERS 


PRICE  10  CENTS 

A  C  A  D  H  M  Y     OF     SCIENCES     B  U  I  L  D  I  N  G 
SAN      FRANCISCO,      C  A  L  . 


Standard  Press 


Berkeley,  Cal. 


THE    INVISIBLE  WORLD 
ABOUT   US 


In  the  midst  of  the  most  vigorous  life  f^w  people  are  pei> 
fectly  free  from  the  fear  of  death.  Death  is Hiie  "skeleton 
that  sits  at  the  feast  of  life.  It  is  the 'silent  Spectre  that 
fills  the  mind  with  fear.  Across  every'  "threshold  'afid 
upon  almost  every  heart  falls  this  fearsome  shadow.  Any 
philosophy  that  removes  this  dread,  that  dispels  this  cloud 
and  lights  the  tomb  with  reason's  torch,  deserves  the  thanks 
and  gratitude  of  all.  No  greater  boon  can  come  to  man  than 
a  knowledge  of  nature  that  shall  rob  death  of  its  terror  and 
drive  this  fiend  of  fear  from  the  human  heart. 

Nothing  is,  or  possible  can  be,  supernatural.  Nature  is 
all-inclusive.  The  lightest  atom  and  the  most  ponderous  star, 
the  simple  fact  of  daily  life  and  the  most  mysterious  phe- 
nomenon, are  equally  the  subjects  of  universal  law.  A  thing 
may  be  superphysical  and  for  the  moment  incomprehensible; 
it  can  not  possibly  be  supernatural. 

We  never  fear  what  we  really  understand,  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  invisible  world  about  us,  of  the  hidden  side  of  nature, 
of  the  soul  and  its  vestures,  of  the  facts  about  death  and  the 
wider  life  to  which  it  is  but  the  doorway,  will  banish  all 
doubt  and  fill  life  with  confidence  and  joy. 

Theosophists  are  not  blind  to  the  fact  that  every  solution 
of  great  problems  must  run  the  gauntlet  of  ridicule.  That 
has  been  the  history  of  every  great  truth  ever  proclaimed. 


977948 


It  is  the  penalty  of  progress.  It  is  the  blind  retaliation  of  the 
thoughtless,  getting  even  with  those  who  give  them  the  pain 
of  a  new  idea.  Jesus  was  killed.  Socrates  was  poisoned. 
Gallileo  was  persecuted.  Copernicus  was  threatened.  Colum- 
bus was  imprisoned.  Bruno  was  burned.  Watt  and  Fulton 
were  ridiculed  and  jeered.  They  were  all  unselfishly  working 
for  the  enlightenment  of  mankind.  They  had  ideas  that  were 
of  incalculable  value  to  the  very  people  who  derided  them. 
TChey  were  ,thee  sanest  of  the  sane.  Yet  they  were  regarded 
a#*  dangerouX&teii./  They  were  denounced  as  fools  and  frauds 
an&;fa€iafc>c6,  and  tiie.  hand  of  malice  was  not  stayed  until 
'mo'st  6f  them*  -vfefe-  deprived  of  liberty  or  life.  Original  think- 
ers have  usually  been  the  victims  of  their  beneficiaries.  Every 
hand  was  against  them,  and  every  dungeon  yawned  for  them. 
But  in  our  day  the  infliction  of  physical  pain  has  gone  out  of 
fashion.  We  are  now  satisfied  with  ridicule.  "Crank"  and 
"fanatic"  are  epithets  that  some  people  apply  to  a  man  who 
points  out  new  facts  than  can  not  be  explained  by  old  theo- 
ries, and  produces  new  arguments  that  can  not  be  conven- 
iently answered.  But  thoughtful  people  no  longer  even  ridi- 
cule new  and  strange  ideas.  With  such  wonders  as  radium 
and  liquid  air  before  us  we  begin  to  comprehend  the  fact 
that  the  invisible  world  about  us  is  a  vast  field  of  unknown 
possibilities. 

The  first  thing  to  be  said  about  this  invisible  world  is  that 
everybody  is  acquainted  with  some  of  its  manifestations.  The 
street-cars  we  ride  upon,  and  the  telegrams  we  send,  are 
visible  evidence  cf  the  existence  of  the  invisible  thing  we 
call  electricity, — a  force  as  mysterious  and  incomprehensible 
to  the  scientist  as  to  the  school-boy.  The  very  winds  that 
blow  are  a  part  of  the  invisible, — moving  masses  of  an  invis- 
ible matter  that  science  is  now  able  to  condense  into  visible, 


liquid  form.  There  is  a  still  rarer  matter  than  air,  called 
ether,  that  science  declares  exists,  although  it  can  not  con- 
dense it,  nor  in  any  way  whatever  grasp,  measure  or  contact 
it.  How,  then,  is  it  known  to  exist?  Because  certain  phe- 
nomena could  not  be,  without  it.  Just  as  we  could  not  have 
sound  without  the  air  through  which  it  travels,  neither  can 
we  have  electrical  phenomena  without  the  ether  as  its 
medium  through  which  to  work.  So  in  air  and  ether  we  have 
two  kinds  of  invisible  matter,  and  in  electricity  we  have  a 
force  working  through  one  of  them  whose  visible  results  we 
see  daily.  This  is  as  far  as  physical  science  is  at  present 
able  to  go  into  the  unseen,  in  this  direction,  but  occult  science 
goes  much  further.  Its  methods  are  as  definite  and  exact  as 
these  of  physical  science,  but  its  facts  are  obtained  through 
the  development  of  certain  faculties  or  senses  latent  in  all 
human  beings,  that  give  those  who  possess  them  an  advantage 
over  those  who  have  but  the  five  senses,  much  like  a  person 
with  those  five  senses  would  have  over  another  who  had  the 
four,  but  did  not  possess  the  sense  of  sight.  What  has  thus 
been  learned  of  the  invisible  side  of  nature  constitutes  some 
of  the  truths  theosophy  offers  to  the  world. 

Theosophy  divides  the  universe  into  seven  planes  or  regions 
of  nature,  but  for  our  present  purpose  we  need  give  attention 
to  but  three  of  them:  the  physical,  astral  and  mental.  On 
these  occur  all  the  phenomena  .of  life  and  death,  and  a  clear 
understanding  of  them  will  dispel  all  doubt  and  drive  away  all 
fear  for  either  our  friends  or  ourselves.  Now,  while  two  of 
these  divisions  of  the  universe  are  invisible  to  physical  sight 
and  impalpable  to  physical  touch,  they  are,  nevertheless,  com- 
posed of  matter,  and  the  first  thing  we  should  get  clearly  in 
mind  is  that  this  invisible  matter  interpenetrates  and  com- 
pletely permeates  all  visible  matter.  If  we  could  take  a  large 

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sponge,  very  coarse  and  porous,  of  spherical  shape,  and  com- 
pletely fill  every  cell  with  very  fine  sand,  and  also  surround 
it  entirely  with  the  sand;  if  this  sand  globe,  somewhat  larger 
than  the  sponge,  could  then  be  lifted,  with  the  sponge  inside, 
and  put  into  a  globe  of  water  that  would  completely  surround 
both  while  the  water  interpenetrated  the  whole  mass,  filling 
all  the  space  between  the  grains  of  sand,  that  would  give  us 
a  fair  idea  of  the  relationship  of  these  three  regions  of  nature. 
The  sponge  would  represent  the  physical  region,  enveloped 
and  interpenetrated  by  the  sand  representing  the  astral  region. 
The  mental  region  would  be  represented  by  the  water  which 
entirely  surrounds  and  interpenetrates  every  particle  of  both 
the  others.  Holding  this  picture  in  the  mind  a  moment,  it  is 
easy  to  see  how  a  force  acting  on  the  sand  and  moving  the 
grains  from  point  to  point,  need  not  in  the  least  disturb  the 
sponge;  and  how,  also,  force  acting  on  the  molecules  of  water 
need  not  affect  anything  but  the  water,  although  the  mole- 
cules be  moved  freely  through  the  entire  mass.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  something  like  that  is  just  what  is  occurring  on  these 
invisible  planes  of  the  universe.  All  the  activities  of  life  go 
forward  on  each  without  in  the  least  interfering  with  any 
other. 

What  is  it  that  makes  these  natural  divisions,  these  regions 
of  nature,  these  grades  of  matter  growing  finer  and  rarer, 
and  that  so  completely  separates  them  that  they  seem  not 
to  exist  for  each  other?  It  is  the  inherent  qualities  peculiar  to 
them,  and  which  may  be  illustrated  by  the  vibration  of  the 
matter  of  each  region.  It  may  be  crudely  represented  by  the 
difference  that  exists  between  ice,  water  and  steam.  We  can 
take  the  visible  solid  called  ice,  and  by  the  application  of  heat 
raise  the  rate  of  vibration  until  it  becomes  the  visible  liquid 
called  water.  We  can  continue  the  process  until  we  change 

4 


the  visible  liquid  called  water  into  the  invisible  gas  called 
steam.  It  is  precisely  the  same  matter  all  the  time  .  We  have 
merely  raised  the  vibratory  rate,  and  in  doing  that  we  have 
caused  a  solid  to  disappear.  Of  course,  every  atom  of  that 
matter  is  as  much  in  existence  as  though  we  could  still  see  it, 
and  if  this  were  done  in  a  laboratory  the  steam  could  be 
reduced  to  vapor,  the  vapor  to  water  and  the  water  to  ice, 
giving  us  the  identical  solid  with  which  we  began. 

In  order  to  understand  something  of  the  conditions  of  life 
after  bodily  death,  we  must  understand  what  a  human  being 
really  is,  and  not  what  to  the  deceptive  physical  sight  he 
appears  to  be.  We  saw  a  moment  ago  that  we  are  dealing 
with  three  regions,  two  of  which  are  invisible  to  the  physical 
eye.  Now,  just  as  the  earth  has  its  visible  and  two  invisible 
regions  of  matter  freely  interpenetrating  each  other,  so  a 
human  being  has  a  visible  and  two  invisible  bodies,  composed 
of  these  different  grades  of  matter,  with  the  same  interpene- 
trating relationship.  So,  from  birth  we  have  not  only  the 
visible  physical  body,  but  the  invisible  astral  and  mental 
bodies,  and  just  as  the  astral  region  of  the  earth  not  only 
interpenetrates  the  physical  but  extends  beyond  it  in  all 
directions,  as  in  the  illustration  of  the  sponge  and  sand,  so 
the  matter  of  the  astral  body  interpenetrates  the  matter  of 
the  physical  body,  and  extends  somewhat  beyond  it.  It  is  an 
exact  duplicate  in  form  and  feature,  except  that  it  is  a  little 
larger  than  the  physical  body. 

To  understand  how  the  real  self,  or  conscious  being,  comes 
into  possession  of  these  bodies,  we  must  get  rid  of  some  of 
the  delusions  of  which  we  are  now  the  unconscious  victims. 
One  of  these  is  that  this  physical  life  is  the  point  where  we 
begin  the  journey  in  the  cycle  of  birth.  This  is  not  the  home 
region  of  the  soul,  but  the  fartherest  region  away  from  it.  • 

5 


But  on  this  point  we  are  in  the  grip  of  the  same  sort  of 
delusion  that  leads  us  to  see  the  earth  as  the  center  of  the 
universe,  with  the  sun  and  stars  moving  about  it.  If  we  could 
be  transported  to  the  sun,  and  from  there  behold  the  earth 
as  the  mote  it  would  comparatively  be,  that  delusion  about 
their  relative  size  and  movement  would  instantly  vanish. 
Precisely  so  would  this  illusion  about  the  importance  of  the 
physical  plane,  with  its  material  affairs,  vanish  if  viewed 
from  the  mental  region.  Indeed,  so  Tery  illusory  is  this  phys- 
ical life  that  the  advanced  occultist  speaks  of  the  physical 
body  as  "a  shadow"  of  the  real  self.  As  we  move  toward  the 
mental  region  we  approach  reality. 

Let  us  think,  then,  of  the  conscious  being,  the  living,  think- 
ing soul,  as  beginning  its  journey  for  another  cycle  of  expe- 
rience in  the  highest  or  rarest  portion  of  the  realm  we  have 
called  the  mental  region.  Its  desire  for  experience  generates 
energy.  It  draws  to  itself  the  unimaginably  rare  matter  of 
the  mental  region  somewhat  as  a  magnet  attracts  iron  filings, 
and  as  these  minute  iron  particles  arrange  themselves  about 
the  magnet  in  perfect  order,  obeying  the  laws  of  vibration 
with  the  same  accuracy  that  the  earth  moves  in  its  orbit,  so 
does  this  mental  matter  form  the  mental  body  about  the  soul. 
This  accomplished,  the  soul  continues  its  descent  into  matter, 
the  astral  body  being  the  next  acquisition. 

But  we  must  not  be  misled  by  the  phrase,  "descent  into 
matter,"  or  by  the  expression,  "from  higher  down  to  lower 
regions."  There  is  no  higher  or  lower  in  the  sense  of  alti- 
tude. The  mental  region  is  not  further  away  than  the  astral. 
Both  are  as  much  here,  within  reach  of  the  hand,  as  the 
physical.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  matter  of  both  inter- 
penetrates all  physical  matter,  and  also  completely  envelopes 
it.  So  the  soul,  or  consciousness,  does  not  come  down  from 

6 


some  place.  There  is  no  movement  in  space  necessary.  It 
merely  attracts  to  itself  the  matter  of  a  very  rare  grade, 
called  "mental";  then,  by  a  considerably  different  process  in 
a  coarser  grade  of  matter,  the  astral  body  is  secured.  Finally, 
by  a  still  different  process,  but  still  one  of  slow  building,  the 
physical  body  is  constructed  of  physical  matter.  The  three 
vehicles,  or  organisms,  through  which  the  soul  is  to  function 
in  the  three  regions  are  now  ready  to  enable  it  to  contact 
the  various  grades  of  matter  and  obtain  the  experience  it 
seeks. 

Now,  having  followed  in  thought  the  way  in  which,  starting 
on  the  home  plane  of  the  soul,  we  successively  clothe  ourselves 
in  the  matter  of  these  three  regions,  thus  acquiring  a  bod^ 
in  which  it  is  possible  to  function  in  each  region,  we  are  in  a 
position  to  understand  that  this  physical  body  is  very  far  from 
being  the  real  man;  and  that  we  are,  each  of  us,  far  more 
than  we  appear  to  be,  far  more  than  we  are  able  to  express 
through  this  physical  mechanism.  Somebody  has  somewhere 
given  the  excellent  illustration  of  likening  the  soul  on  its 
home  plane  to  the  bare  hand.  The  hand  is  capable  of  much. 
In  music,  in  art,  in  many  lines  of  commercial  dexterity,  it  can 
do  wonders.  But  when  the  soul  clothes  itself  in  the  mental 
matter  it  is  more  like  a  hand  that  has  put  on  a  very  thin 
glove.  It  is  a  limitation.  The  fingers  are  not  so  nimble. 
When,  in  addition,  the  soul  takes  on  the  astral  body,  it  is  as 
though  the  thinly  gloved  hand  drew  on  a  heavy  glove.  Now 
the  limitation  is  sorely  felt.  The  fingers  can  scarcely  move. 
The  delicate  touch  has  vanished,  and  the  enrapturing  music 
becomes  broken  and  uncertain.  The  wonderful  painting  is  but 
a  hideous  distortion.  Then  the  soul  reaches  the  physical 
plane  and  begins  to  express  itself  through  the  physical  body. 
This  is  as  though  over  the  thin  and  the  heavy  glove  is  drawn 

7 


a  thick  mitten.  The  tour  fingers  are  now  one.  The  hand  is  a 
clumsy  club,  and  the  once  divine  harmony  would  be  but  mean- 
ingless sound.  And  so,  limited  and  confined  as  we  are  in 
dense  matter,  the  soul  is  showing  forth  in  this  visible  life,  but 
the  merest  fragment  of  the  real  self. 

Clearly,  the  physical  body  is  not  the  man.  If  it  were,  the 
loss  of  a  part  of  the  body  would  logically  be  a  loss  of  part  of 
the  man.  But  we  know  he  may  lose  both  arms  and  both 
lower  limbs,  the  sight  of  both  eyes,  the  hearing,  the  major 
part  of  the  lungs  an  the  entire  stomach,  and  still  live  his 
allotted  time.  With  so  little  of  the  physical  body  left  he  is 
he  same  man,  with  all  the  force  of  will  and  power  of  thought, 
with  all  the  attributes  of  character  that  constitute  a  human 
being.  This  mere  fragment  of  a  body  is  sufficient  for  the  real 
man  to  function  through  in  the  visible  world.  Of  course, 
there  is  a  point  beyond  which  the  mutilation  of  the  physical 
organism  cannot  go  without  forcing  the  ego  to  abandon  it; 
but  every  forward  step  in  surgery  is  demonstrating  more  and 
more  clearly  that  the  body  is  but  a  wonderful  machine  and 
laboratory  operated  by  a  still  more  wonderful  and  indepen- 
dent intelligence. 

What  we  call  death  is  but  the  shifting  of  the  life  and  con- 
sciousness from  the  physical  to  the  astral  body.  It  does  not 
necessarily  mean  any  movement  in  space,  for  the  astral  is  here 
as  much  as  the  air  and  ether.  Often  one  who  dies  by  dropping 
off  in  unconscious  slumber  is  not  at  first  aware  of  it.  He  sees 
his  surroundings  much  as  before.  He  sees  and  speaks  to  his 
friends,  and  it  is  only  when  they  do  not  answer,  and  take  no 
notice  of  him,  that  he  begins  to  realize  that  something  unus- 
ual has  occurred.  He  does  not  really  see  us  as  we  see  each 
other,  but  sees  our  astral  bodies. 

There  is  a  mistaken  idea  that  the  astral  world  is   some- 


thing  vague,  misty  and  unreal.  But  in  truth  it  is  a  more 
vivid  and  realistic  life  than  this  we  are  now  living.  There  is 
nothing  ghostly  about  it.  With  the  shifting  of  the  conscious- 
ness to  the  astral  grade  of  matter  the  astral  world  becomes 
as  tangible  and  substantial  as  the  physical  is  now.  We  do 
not,  by  death,  suddenly  acquire  great  intelligence,  as  is  some- 
times supposed,  but  the  mind  is  no  longer  hampered  by  the 
dense  physical  brain.  We  also  leave  physical  pain  behind. 
There  is  no  bodily  weariness  in  the  astral  world. 

Naturally  enough,  we  cannot  even  imagine  what  so  great  a 
change  must  mean  to  life.  We  may  think  of  a  lifelong  dun- 
geon prisoner  being  suddenly  released  into  this  world  and 
all  its  prized  freedom  and  opportunity  becoming  on  instanta- 
neous possession.  But  so  tame  a  comparison  is  of  little  assist- 
ance. In  many  ways  that  do  not  occur  to  us  larger  freedom 
and  new  vistas  of  existence  must  appear.  Of  those  that  do 
occur  to  us  we  can  hardly  hope  to  get  a  comprehensive  idea. 
Take  one  simple  fact  as  an  illustration — the  fact  that  food, 
clothing  and  shelter  would  no  longer  be  a  problem  of  life, 
and  that  all  the  tremendous  energy  now  given  to  their  produc- 
tion would  be  necessarily  turned  in  other  directions.  Think 
what  that  would  mean  if  applied  even  to  the  physical  life, 
and  what  a  change  would  be  wrought  if  each  were  free  to 
use  his  time  as  he  chose.  Of  course,  the  astral  existence 
means  different  things  to  different  people.  We  shall  doubtless 
enjoy  it  or  dislike  it  in  proportion  that  we  have  wisely  or  fool- 
ishly lived  the  physical  life.  If  we  have  been  students  we 
shall  probably  find  our  chief  pleasure  in  pursuing  our  studies 
under  immensely  better  facilities.  If  we  have  lived  useful, 
helpful  lives,  we  shall  find  wider  opportunity  for  continuing  in 
that  line.  If  we  have  been  completely  absorbed  in  the  accu- 
mulation of  property,  wre  shall  probably  find  the  sudden  cut- 

9 


ting  off  of  all  business  affairs  a  great  annoyance.  If  we  have 
lived  so  selfishly  that  we  can  not  use  our  leisure  and  enjoy 
our  liberty  when  it  comes,  we  may  find  the  astral  life  very 
dull  and  irksome. 

Life  on  the  astral  plane  is  not  punitive,  but  purgative.  All 
of  nature's  processes  are  really  kind  and  beneficent,  although 
it  is  not  always  apparent  on  the  surface.  Pain  is  a  friend.  It 
is  always  the  lesser  of  two  evils.  It  is  nature's  danger  signal. 
We  unconsciously  get  a  hand  too  close  to  the  fire  and  are 
startled  with  a  burn.  That  is  the  warning.  But  for  it  the 
hand  would  have  been  consumed.  We  overwork,  and  a  warn- 
ing pain  springs  up  in  our  brain  or  heart.  The  network  of 
nerves  that  makes  us  suffer  is  but  nature's  telegraph  system 
prepared  to  send  an  instantaneous  message  of  warning  from 
every  point  of  the  body  to  the  brain.  Now,  for  precisely  the 
same  reason  that  we  suffer  here  we  may  suffer  there — not 
because  we  are  being  punished,  but  because  the  moral  nature 
is  being  purged;  because  we  are  getting  rid  of  certain  traits 
and  tendencies  that  to  retain  would  mean  greater  suffering 
in  the  future.  If  a  man  has  an  abscess  it  may  be  painful  to 
submit  to  the  surgeon's  knife;  but  that  suffering  is  the  way 
back  to  good  health,  plus  the  consequence  of  having  violated 
some  of  nature's  laws.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  dodging 
natural  law.  It  operates  as  unerringly  and  as  exactly  in  the 
unseen  world  as  in  the  visible,  and  therefore  a  study  of  this 
subject  is  important.  By  having  a  knowledge  of  the  astral  life 
and  the  after-death  conditions,  both  terror  and  suffering  may 
be  avoided.  Such  suffering  as  may  be  experienced  is  not,  of 
course,  physical,  for  the  physical  body,  with  all  its  aches  and 
pains,  has  been  left  behind.  But  we  all  know  from  experience 
that  physical  pain  causes  less  suffering  than  mental  and  emo- 
tional distress.  No  physical  pain  is  comparable  to  the  pangs 

10 


of  remorse,  or  the  suffering  caused  by  the  sudden  loss  of  a 
very  dear  friend.  Strong  but  ungratified  desire  may  also  be 
a  source  of  suffering,  as  may  easily  be  seen  in  the  case  of  a 
hard  drinker  being  unable  to  gratify  his  insatiable  thirst.  This 
must  be  equally  true,  in  varying  degree,  of  all  other  material 
desires  which  people  carry  with  them  into  the  astral  life,, 
where  there  is  no  possibility  of  their  gratification. 

The  astral  region  has  seven  subdivisions,  and  these  form 
three  groups  or  states  of  consciousness  to  which  people  go 
after  death,  and  our  location  there  depends  upon  the  sort  of 
life  we  live  here;  not  that  we  are  sorted  out  and  assigned  to 
different  regions,  like  the  guests  at  a  hotel  are  sent  to  variou& 
floors,  but  that  our  life  here  is  constantly  drawing  into  our 
bodies  finer  or  coarser  astral  matter,  and  this  determines  with 
absolute  accuracy  our  astral  career.  If,  for  example,  a  man 
lives  a  very  low  and  bestial,  or  a  very  selfish  life,  he  is  thereby 
constantly  attracting  into  his  astral  body  the  grossest  grade 
of  astral  matter,  and  the  preponderance  of  this  matter  will 
carry  him  to  that  most  undesirable  sub-plane  of  our  world,, 
the  lower  astral  region,  as  certainly  as  a  gross  impulse  here 
will  take  him  where  it  may  be  gratified.  This  lowest  sub- 
division of  the  astral  world  is  described  by  trained  occult 
observers  as  appearing  devoid  of  all  that  is  light  and  beauti- 
ful. One  investigator  describes  it  as  having  an  atmosphere 
of  grossness  and  loathsomeness  that  gives  one  the  sensation 
of  being  surrounded  by  some  black,  viscous  fluid,  instead  of 
by  pure  air.  This  is  that  subdivision  of  the  astral  world  that 
is  undoubtedly  the  basis  of  the  descriptions  in  Biblical  litera- 
ture of  purgatory  or  hell. 

It  is  the  next  rarer  region  of  the  astral  plane  to  which  the 
bulk  of  humanity  goes  at  death,  and  here  the  sojourn  may  be 
long  or  short.  It  will  depend  wholly  upon  circumstances, 

11 


precisely  as  the  length  of  physical  life  depends  upon  many 
things,  including  the  soundness  of  our  physical  body,  the  care 
we  take  of  it  and  the  manner  in  which  we  live.  Some  may 
remain  on  the  astral  plane  a  very  short  time,  and  others  for 
a  long  period.  But  in  general  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  same 
way  we  reckon  an  ordinary  physical  life  at  sixty  or  seventy 
years,  the  astral  life  might  be  put  at  twenty-five  or  thirty 
years. 

This  astral  region,  as  a  whole,  is  the  world  of  desires, 
passions  and  emotions.  During  physical  life  we  have  generated 
certain  forces  that  have  not  had  their  full  expression,  and 
this  stored-up  energy  must  work  itself  out  on  the  invisible 
planes.  It  may  thus  happen  that,  although  a  man  who  dies 
has  no  physical  body  through  which  he  can  suffer,  he  passes 
through  a  purgative  process  that  we  should  as  earnestly  seek 
to  avoid  as  we  would  seek  to  avoid  burns  and  bruises,  regrets 
and  heartaches  here.  All  evil  and  selfish  thoughts  and  acts 
indulged  here  must  necessarily  cause  more  or  less  suffering 
in  the  astral  world.  All  hatred,  envy,  jealousy,  anger,  and  all 
gross  desires  and  appetites  indulged  here  must  inevitably 
work  out  unpleasantly  there. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  have  lived  clean,  wholesome 
and  unselfish  lives  here  pass  quickly  to  the  loftiest  conditions 
of  the  astral  world,  and  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  have 
been  unconsciously,  all  the  time  attracting  the  rarest  grade 
of  astral  matter  to  their  astral  bodies  until  it  predominates. 
That  like  attracts  like  is  one  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  nature. 

When  the  astral  life  is  finished — that  is  to  say,  when  the 
forces  that  carry  us  to  the  astral  plane  are  exhausted — we 
pass  into  the  mental  region,  or  heaven  world,  which  is  the 
second  great  division  of  the  invisible  world  about  us.  Again 

12 


we  must  remember  that  this  does  not  represent  any  move- 
ment in  space,  but  a  gradual  release  from  the  astral  body 
and  a  transfer  of  the  consciousness  to  the  mental  body. 

Each  of  these  planes  of  nature,  the  physical,  astral  and 
mental,  has  its  particular  purpose  in  evolution.  In  the  phyical 
here  we  produce  causes;  we  generate  certain  forces  which, 
later  on,  must  have  either  good  or  bad  effects.  It  is,  so  to 
speak,  the  seed  time.  The  astral  is  the  purgative  plane,  where 
detrimental  tendencies  are  worn  away  and  undesirable  tend- 
encies exhausted.  The  mental  plane  is  the  place  of  assimila- 
tion, the  harvest  time,  the  period  in  which  we  reap  the  rich 
reward  of  noble  thought  and  deed  and  garner  the  wisdom 
from  all  the  experience  we  have  passed  through  on  the  other 
planes.  Here,  in  a  perfectly  blissful  life,  in  a  state  of  ecstacy 
impossible  to  describe,  is  passed  a  comparatively  long  period. 
Just  as  on  the  astral  plane,  the  circumstances  once  more 
determine  the  length  of  the  life  in  the  heaven  world,  but  the 
investigators  agree  that  on  an  average  it  is  a  period  equal  to 
several  times  the  length  of  the  combined  physical  and  astral 
life.  This  is  a  period  of  rest  and  of  mental  and  spiritual 
growth.  Here  all  the  highest  aspirations  of  our  life  on  the 
physical  plane  have  their  complete  working  out.  Experience 
becomes  wisdom,  and  noble  desire  becomes  faculty  for  future 
accomplishment.  All  the  grossness  of  every  possible  kind  has 
dropped  away  during  the  astral  life,  and  not  a  single  shadow 
of  any  sort  remains  to  mar  this  life  of  perfect  joy. 

"Does  this  life  on  these  two  planes  of  the  unseen  world 
include  a  recognition  of  those  we  have  known  here?"  is  a  very 
natural  inquiry.  A  moment's  reflection  on  the  laws  of  attrac- 
tion and  association  will  show  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise. 
Passing  from  the  physical  plane  to  the  astral  through  death 
does  not  change  one's  appearance  nor  characteristics,  any 

13 


more  than  passing  from  one  house  to  another.  Two  people  in 
this  life  who  greatly  desire  to  be  together  cannot  be  kept  apart 
by  any  contrivance  we  have  yet  discovered,  and  the  same 
principle  of  attraction  operates  much  mSre  powerfully  in  the 
astral  and  mental  life.  We  shall  not  only  know  cur  friends 
-and  be  with  them,  but  shall  know  them  much  better  than  it  is 
possible  to  know  each  other  now,  for  thought  flashes  from 
mind  to  mind  without  our  clumsy  methods  of  verbal  commu- 
nication. 

We  need  not  even  wait  until  we  go  there  to  be  of  service 
to  our  friends  who  have  gone  ahead.  It  is  quite  possible  for  us 
now  to  help  the  so-called  dead  by  contributing  to  their  sere- 
nity and  peace  of  mind.  While  we  can  neither  see  them  nor 
know  their  thoughts,  they  can  see  our  astral  bodies  and  know 
of  our  thoughts  that  relate  to  them;  they  can  at  least  know 
how  we  feel  toward  them.  Everybody  in  these  days  under- 
stands something  of  telepathy — the  instantaneous  communica- 
tion of  thought  from  mind  to  mind.  Since  the  invention  of 
the  wireless  telegraph  this  does  not  seem  wonderful,  for  pre- 
cisely as  a  message  is  sent  without  a  wire  by  utilizing  ether 
waves,  a  thought  is  transferred  from  brain  to  brain  through 
the  wave  vibrations  of  a  still  subtler  matter.  Thus  those  we 
mis-call  the  dead  may  be  in  telepathic  touch  with  us  and  be 
susceptible  to  our  thought  when  it  is  definitely  directed  toward 
them. 

New,  some  of  those  who  have  passed  to  the  astral  plane 
are  much  in  need  of  sympathetic  and  loving  thought,  and  their 
condition  can  be  greatly  improved  by  it.  All  may  thus  be 
helped,  but  those  who  have  passed  from  this  life  suddenly,  by 
-accident  or  by  suicide,  are  likely  to  particularly  need  it.  Those 
who  die  in  any  other  way  than  the  natural  one  of  old  age  or 
^disease  may  remain  for  a  considerable  period  in  the  lower 

14 


regions  of  the  astral  world.  Sudden  death,  therefore,  either 
by  accident  or  suicide,  may  be  regarded  as  very  unfortunate. 
In  the  case  of  a  suicide,  if,  as  is  nearly  always  the  case,  the 
motive  was  a  selfish  one — a  desire  to  escape  some  disagree- 
able condition  here — the  astral  life  is  likely  to  be  very  rest- 
less, and  every  kindly  thought,  every  earnest  wish  for  his 
welfare,  is  a  boon  indeed;  for  the  suicide  will  undoubtedly 
find  that,  however  superior  the  astral  life  may  be  to  the 
present  one,  whoever  seeks  to  evade  a  responsibility  or 
lacks  the  courage  to  face  a  necessary  condition,  only 
makes  a  bad  situation  very  much  worse  by  destroying  his  life. 
To  all  such  all  sympathetic  thought  must  be  very  beneficial, 
and  this  is  true  of  all  the  departed.  Kind,  sympathetic,  sin- 
cere well-wishing  can  not  be  otherwise  than  helpful.  For 
these  reasons  all  grieving  for  the  dead  is  a  mistake,  for  it 
only  tends  to  make  them  unhappy.  We  ought  not  to  indulge 
our  own  selfish  sense  of  loss  and  desolation,  but  be  thinking 
only  of  the  welfare  of  the  one  we  have  lost,  and  be  sending 
him  cheerful,  helpful  thoughts. 

This  brief  consideration  of  a  great  question  can  give  but  a 
few  hints  on  the  subject  of  life  in  the  unseen  world,  but  even 
that  is  enough  to  show  the  vital  importance  of  acquiring  some 
knowledge  now  of  the  conditions  to  come.  If  we  were 
going  upon  a  journey  to  some  unknown  foreign  country  we 
should  learn  all  we  could  in  advance  of  the  pleasures  we 
might  enjoy  and  the  dangers  we  might  avoid.  Each  one  of 
us  is  really  going  upon  this  journey  into  the  unseen  world. 
Nobody  has  any  doubt  about  that.  If  we  wisely  study  the 
planes  of  nature  now,  our  knowledge  will  light  the  way  and 
make  us  confident  and  fearless. 

There  is  nothing  more  appalling  than  uncertainty  about 
what  follows  death.  This  spectre  of  separation  sits  at  almost 

15 


every  fireside,  darkens  almost  every  home.  A  little  while  ago 
I  saw  a  funeral  that  was  a  tragedy.  Fear  or  despair  drove  the 
wife  to  the  verge  of  insanity  as  she  staggered  shrieking  after 
the  coffin  that,  to  her,  carried  her  husband  she  knew  not 
whither.  An  observer  at  a  distance  might  have  supposed  it 
to  be  an  execution  instead  of  a  funeral.  And  yet  a  little 
thought  should  convince  us  that  in  this  sound,  sane  universe 
all  may  be  safe.  There  is  no  penalty  that  we  ourselves  do  not 
create.  There  is  no  hell  that  we  ourselves  do  not  prepare; 
that  we  are  every  moment  now  preparing,  but  which  process 
we  can  check  and  stop  at  any  moment  if  we  learn  how  and 
then  wisely  use  the  information. 

The  trouble  with  the  majority  of  people  is  that  they  have 
no  definite  knowledge  on  the  subject.  They  endeavor  to  do 
right  in  a  general  way  and  vaguely  hope  that  in  the  end  all 
may  be  well.  But  until  we  have  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of 
existence,  until  we  have  a  comprehension  of  life  and  death 
that  rests  on  the  sure  ground  of  natural  law,  we  can  not  be 
free  from  doubt  about  the  future.  Such  definite  knowledge 
this  philosophy  will  give  to  every  thinking  person,  for  Theo- 
sophy  is  the  torchbearer  of  the  ages.  Into  this  physical  life, 
where  hundreds  of  millions  of  the  human  race  are  enchained 
in  materiality,  blinded  with  incredulity,  narrowed  with  intole- 
rance, groping  in  ignorance  and  fettered  with  fear,  comes 
this  goddess  of  enlightenment  and  emancipation;  and  for  all 
who  study  her  wisdom  the  darkness  shall  vanish  and  the  fet- 
ters fall,  and  in  this  illuminating  flood  of  reason  they  can  face 
the  future  without  a  doubt  and  without  a  fear. 


FREE  LECTURES  ON  THEOSOPK 

Engagements  can  be  made  with  L.  W.  Rogers 
lecture  on  Tlieosophy  and  occultism  before  clubs,  socie 
or  the  public,  by  addressing  the  Theosophical  Sock 
Academy  of  Sciences  Building,  819  Market  Street,  1 
Francisco,  California. 

PUBLISHED  LECTURES  BY  L.  W.  ROGERS 

"The  Evidence  for    Theosophy"          .         .         10  d 

On   some  of  the   scientific    and    historic    facts    indicating- 
existence  of  an  unseen  world  and  a  future  life. 

"Reincarnation  From  the  Scientific  Viewpoint"     W  Ct 

On  some  of  the  natural  laws,   and  the    facts    of    life,    shov 
that  re -incarnation  is  a  necessary  factor  in  evolution. 

"Karma:  Nature's  Law  of  Justice"     .      +.         W 

On  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  as  operating-  in    the    affai 
daily  life. 

"Soul  Powers  and  Possibilities"          .         .         10  Ct 

On  some  of  the  methods  of  nature  in   evolving-  latent  facu 
and  powers. 

/ '  Universal  Brotherhood"     .         .         .         .         10  Ct 

On  the  relationship  of  human  beings  to    each    other,    and 
the  animal  kingdom. 

THEOSOPHICAL  BOOKS 


cMrs.  Annie  TZesant 
Ancient  \Visdom                $] 

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C.  W.  Leadbeater 

Man  Visible  and  Invisible, 
(Col'd  Illus)  
Other  Side  of  Death 

Esoteric  Christianity                          1 

Doctrine    of    the    Heart,     trans- 
lated by  Mrs  Besant  50c  & 
Theosophy    and    the    New     Psy- 
chology   

Some  Glimpes  of  Occultism  
Clairvoyance  
Invisible   Helpers  
Astral  Plane  

Outer  Court  
Path  of  Discipleship 

An  Outline  oi  Theosophy  .  . 
A.  P.  Sinnett 

Growth  of  the  Soul  
Nature's  Mysteries 

Evolution  of  Life  and  Form  
Four  Great  Religions  
Some  Problems  of  Life  
Religious  Problems  in  India  
Ancient  Ideals  in  Modern  Life  
Self  and  Its  Sheaths  
Man  and  His  Bodies  
Karma                                    

Occult  World  

cMadame  Blavatsky 

Key  to  Theosophy  
Voice  of  the  Silence,  trans  

Reincarnation  .  . 

Address  Theosophical   Society,  819  Market  St.,   San    Franc* 


G.XI  14  DAY  USE 

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T.M. 


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